Arthur Weasley and the Self Scan Machine
by MissSadieKane
Summary: Arthur Weasley is on a day trip with Rose and Hugo when he has to stop in a muggle supermarket for food. After experiencing fascination with most things in the shop he is confronted at the check-outs by an uncooperative, talking machine. "Please place your bags in the bagging area."
_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter._

 _AN: The muggle shop names are made up but based on real shops._

 **Arthur Weasley and the Self-Scan Machine**

Arthur Weasley was enjoying a day out with his grandchildren, Rose and Hugo, after Molly had decided she wanted some peace and quiet in the house. The trip to the nearest muggle town had so far turned out to be fascinating, with the new "DIY-Land" being of particular interest. However, after an hour of looking at screws, light fittings and pots of paint, five-year-old Hugo had become bored.

"Grandpa, I'm hungry. Can we get some food," he whined.

"I should think so. Rose, come on," said Mr Weasley. Rose grabbed a handful of "bookmarks" – strips of colourful card designed to show five different colours of paint each – before following Arthur out of the shop.

The three of them crossed the muggle street, Mr Weasley insisting on holding Hugo's hand as they avoided the many cars. They walked until they reached the medium-sized supermarket, which, to Mr Weasley, looked huge compared to the small independent wizarding shops he and Molly would normally shop in. The supermarket was brightly lit with green, yellow and red signs showing where the different items and discounts were.

"Let's get a trolley," said Rose. "Gran usually gets a trolley."

Mr Weasley could see several muggles already pushing trolleys: the ones belonging to the supermarket were like huge metal baskets on wheels and some of them even had seats on for children, although they looked too small for Rose or Hugo. He tentatively approached the line of trolleys outside the shop, but all of the trolleys were attached together with chains.

"How peculiar – how do the muggles get them inside the shop?" he pondered.

"You put muggle money inside them to get them out," said Hugo. He'd seen his grandmother, Hermione's mother, do this often, but Grandpa Weasley was struggling more with the concept of shopping.

Mr Weasley took out the small bag of muggle money he had taken with him (a collection of golden, silver and copper-coloured coins as well as one orange-coloured, paper note). "Would you like to show Grandpa what to do?" he asked his grandson, handing him the bag.

Hugo selected the round, golden-coloured coin, and put it into a slot behind the chain on the trolley. Rose watched on, slightly amused, as he grandfather's face lit up with fascination at such a simple mechanism. "Shall we go in the shop now, Grandpa?" she asked, once the trolley was free.

…..

The supermarket was overflowing with people due to the sunny weather outside. The people of the muggle market town rarely ventured out when it was raining, so as soon as the sun came out, the shops would become packed. Mr Weasley marvelled at the sheer variety of things the shop actually sold. It hadn't taken him long to find the freezer section, which was fascinating in itself, just because wizards did not use freezers.

"Frozen mashed potato," he read. Molly often cooked mashed potato, but she would never have dreamed of casting the _Glacius_ charm on it, never mind selling it frozen. "What will they think of next?"

"Can we get some of these, Grandpa? They've got animals on," asked Hugo.

Mr Weasley looked at the packet Hugo was pointing at. "Chicken goujon animals," he read. "Chopped and shaped chicken breast cooked in breadcrumbs." Even though they were something he'd never seen before, Mr Weasley did notice that there were cooking instructions on the back of the packet. He decided to put them in the trolley thinking that he should at least buy something 'muggle' and interesting for the children.

The trip around the shop continued with Mr Weasley getting side tracked every few seconds, and the two children suggesting more items for the trolley. They had soon spent half an hour in the supermarket without finding a quick snack for Rose and Hugo, but had somehow managed to acquire at least fifteen unusual food items.

It was at the end of the trip that Rose spotted that the "Grab and Go" lunch and snack section had been at the entrance. Although the sandwiches were packaged in cardboard and plastic triangles, the sandwiches themselves were quite normal. Hugo and Rose selected plain ham sandwiches, while Mr Weasley chose one laden with chicken, bacon and salad.

It was now time to pay and Mr Weasley found himself herded into an area full of black machines where the Muggles seemed to be paying for their shopping without being served. This was something completely different to the mechanical tills he had seen in the muggle town previously. He was greeted by something resembling a 'television'.

He watched to see what the people around him were doing so that he could do the same. The Muggle next to him poked the screen with her finger, touching it where it said ' _start_ '. Mr Weasley did the same and the screen changed again, this time a question appeared on the screen. ' _Have you brought your own bags?'_ Arthur pressed yes to say he had.

"Please place your bags in the bagging area and touch 'done' when finished."

Mr Weasley jerked backwards in astonishment - the muggle contraption was talking to him! "Ingenious, what they come up with," he thought as he did was the machine asked.

He took off the shoulder bag that he had been carrying around all day and placed it in what he assumed was the 'bagging area'.

"Please wait while we verify your bags," said the machine. The machine had a calm but irritating female voice, and some the other customers around Mr Weasley were getting annoyed with their own machines. Mr Weasley wasn't, however – he was enjoying the experience tremendously.

"Grandpa, I don't think the machine understands the expandable charm you've put on the bag," said Rose. "It's only a Muggle machine."

Just then, a man wearing a bright yellow jacket came over to them. While Mr Weasley had learnt to fit in better with the Muggles over the years, this man clearly hadn't as his yellow jacket and fluorescent green shirt set him apart from everyone else like a Unicorn in a Thestral herd. The man dug into the pocket of the yellow jacket and brought out a card, which he slapped down on the surface of the machine. "There you go, it should work properly now," he said. It took Mr Weasley a moment to realise that the man's clothing was actually a marker that he worked in the supermarket, rather than a choice of outfit.

"Wait," Arthur called. "What do I do with the shopping?"

The man in yellow smiled kindly at Arthur Weasley, as if he talked to people who didn't know what to do on the machines on a daily basis.

"You see this bar code?" said the man, picking up a sandwich box and showing Mr Weasley a black and white striped pattern on the side. Mr Weasley nodded. "All you have to do is swipe it on the machine and put the item in the bagging area," the man added, showing Mr Weasley what to do at the same time.

"That's remarkable," said Mr Weasley. "Can I have a go?" The shop worker smiled and answered in the affirmative. He stayed while Arthur scanned the remaining items before showing how to put the ten pound note into the machine. Soon all the shopping had been packed into Mr Weasley's bag. Surprisingly the muggle man did not even seem surprised as the trolley-load of shopping fit neatly into the small shoulder-bag.

"Well that was an adventure," said Mr Weasley, when they had exited the shop.


End file.
